The Streets

Formed in Birmingham, England in 1994, The Streets is rapper, musician, songwriter and producer Mike Skinner and a rotating cast of collaborators. Offering a distinctly British take on hip-hop, Mike Skinner’s lager-swilling social commentary, humour, and honesty melded garage, rap, punk and dub into brash, swaggering portraits of youth culture. Equally popular with urban, indie and pop fans, debut album Original Pirate Material (2002) introduced Skinner as a razor-tongued urban poet telling tales of binge-drinking party nights. Working around the concept of Mike Skinner searching for a mislaid £1,000, follow-up A Grand Don't Come for Free (2004) shot straight to Number 1 in the UK and produced the smash hit singles “Fit But You Know It” and “Dry Your Eyes”. Established as one of the UK's most popular and respected stars, The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (2006) gave him another Number 1 album, with the hits “When You Wasn't Famous” and “Never Went to Church”, before fourth album Everything Is Borrowed (2008) showed Mike Skinner in a more contemplative, peaceful mood—trying to purge himself of the excess and indulgence. After his 2011 album Computers and Blues, Mike Skinner put The Streets on hold and released And That, his first album as The D.O.T., his collaboration with The Music’s Rob Harvey. They followed that album up with 2013’s Diary. Mike Skinner revived the name The Streets and released the mixtape None of Us Are Getting Out of This Life Alive in 2020. In 2023, the Streets' sixth studio album, The Darker the Shadow the Brighter the Light, reared its head; the first album by the Streets in nearly 13 years.

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